Introduction

Introduction Glenn Hass In April, 1982, President Reagan announced that he would ask Congress to pass legislation to provide massive federal aid to religious and other private schools under a Tuition Tax Credit Plan. In May, 1982, President Reagan announced that he would submit to Congress a constitutional amendment to (in his words) "allow our children to pray in school." On these and similar questions the present official position of our country was stated in the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Everson case in 1947. In that decision Justice Rutledge wrote, "We have staked the very existence of our country on the faith that a complete separation between the government and religion is best for the state and best for religion." The positions advanced by President Reagan and the restlessness of many people today regarding the doctrines of the separation of church, state and private education have led to the planning of this publication on "School, Church, and State Reconsidered." We are most fortunate to have two authors whose contrasting points of view will help us examine these issues which have such great significance for American education. The first paper is by Allan C. Carlson, Executive Vice President , The Rockford Institute, Rockford, Illinois, and Editor of Persuasion at Work, published by the Institute. He has also served on the faculty at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania; as NEH Fellow of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C.; and Assistant Director, Office for Governmental Affairs, Lutheran Council in the U.S.A., Washington, D.C. The second paper is by Edd Doerr, Executive Director, The Voice of Reason, Silver Spring, Maryland. Mr. Doerr has also been Vice President, Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights; Editor of Church and State Magazine, and author of The Conspiracy That Failed (1968), Parochiaid and the Law (1975), and Eden II (a novel, 1974). ...